Baking Bread

The essential white loaf can be made your very own: home-made and a recipe that suits you. There are few things I love more than eating a freshly baked bread, but I usually don't like getting into preparing a bread recipe the day before and resting the dough overnight. I found this great Jamie Oliver recipe that only requires your dough to be risen twice for 30 minutes. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy! You can bake it in the afternoon and have it done for dinner, or, if you're an early bird, make it in the morning and enjoy it for lunch. That's what I did... And I'm using it again for dinner later.

For lunch I served it with real butter, just plain and delicious the way bread is meant to be. This evening, I'll be serving it with my Italian meal by adding cherry tomatoes and mozerella on top of the sliced bread. If you want to save some of it for an unexpected occasion, this bread can be easily frozen. Just pop it into the oven (no need to thaw!) for about 15 minutes and enjoy fresh bread all over again! Rating: 4.5 out of 5.




The second rise. Swollen and puffy in a warm place.


Basic Bread Recipe: Jamie Oliver - Happy Days with the Naked Chef

Ingredients: Will make two loaves, I only used half the recipe.
- 1 kg strong bread flour (7 cups)
- 625 ml tepid water
- 30 g fresh yeast, or 3 x 7g sachets dried yeast
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 level tablespoon fine sea salt
- flour, for dusting

Instructions:
- Stage 1: making a well. Pile the flour on to a clean surface and make a large well in the centre. Pour half your water into the well, then add your yeast, sugar and salt and stir with a fork.
- Stage 2: getting it together. Slowly, but confidently, bring in the flour from the inside of the well. (You don't want to break the walls of the well, or the water will go everywhere.) Continue to bring the flour in to the centre until you get a stodgy, porridgey consistency – then add the remaining water. Continue to mix until it's stodgy again, then you can be more aggressive, bringing in all the flour, making the mix less sticky. Flour your hands and pat and push the dough together with all the remaining flour. (Certain flours need a little more or less water, so feel free to adjust.)
- Stage 3: kneading! This is where you get stuck in. With a bit of elbow grease, simply push, fold, slap and roll the dough around, over and over, for 4 or 5 minutes until you have a silky and elastic dough.
- Stage 4: first prove. Flour the top of your dough. Put it in a bowl, cover with cling film, and allow it to prove for about half an hour until doubled in size – ideally in a warm, moist, draught-free place. This will improve the flavour and texture of your dough and it's always exciting to know that the old yeast has kicked into action.
- Stage 5: second prove, flavouring and shaping. Once the dough has doubled in size, knock the air out for 30 seconds by bashing it and squashing it. You can now shape it or flavour it as required – folded, filled, tray-baked, whatever – and leave it to prove for a second time for 30 minutes to an hour until it has doubled in size once more. This is the most important part, as the second prove will give it the air that finally ends up being cooked into your bread, giving you the really light, soft texture that we all love in fresh bread. So remember – don't fiddle with it, just let it do its thing.
- Stage 6: cooking your bread. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Very gently place your bread dough on to a flour-dusted baking tray and into the preheated oven. Don't slam the door or you'll lose the air that you need. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cooked and golden brown. You can tell if it's cooked by tapping its bottom – if it sounds hollow it's done, if it doesn't then pop it back in for a little longer. Once cooked, place on a rack and allow it to cool for at least 30 minutes – fandabidozi. Feel free to freeze any leftover bread.


What's stopping you from making your own bread? Even a beginner's bread will be delicious!